Methods and systems for generating cluster-based search results

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems are disclosed herein for a media guidance application that intuitively and efficiently allows a user to navigate a large amount of media content on a variety of user devices. Specifically, the media guidance application may provide a user with cluster-based search results. The media guidance application may intelligently select the clusters presented to a user, and attributes of those clusters, in order to assist the user in navigating the available content.

BACKGROUND

In conventional systems, users have access to a plethora of mediacontent. Even though users have access to such a wealth of content,users are still limited in the techniques that they may use to searchthe content. Due to the limited techniques available, users may not knowthat the content they wish to access is available and, consequently,fail to access that content. Furthermore, advances in mobile technologyhas allowed users to access content on devices on which they previouslycould not. However, many devices may include smaller screen sizes andspecialized user interfaces (e.g., touchscreens) that may further limitthe search techniques available to the user.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, methods and systems are disclosed herein for a mediaguidance application that intuitively and efficiently allows a user tonavigate a large amount of media content on a variety of user devices.Specifically, the media guidance application may provide a user withcluster-based search results. The media guidance application mayintelligently select the clusters presented to a user, and attributes ofthose clusters, in order to assist the user in navigating the availablecontent. For example, in response to a search terms (e.g., “John”), themedia guidance application may generate a plurality of clusters, each ofwhich corresponds to a category associated with the search term (e.g.,movies featuring actors named “John,” television shows featuring actorsnamed “John,” movies featuring the word “John” in the title, etc.).Furthermore, a size selected for each cluster may depend on theparticular user device used to access the search results. For example,the media guidance application may determine that search resultspresented on a small mobile device should feature clusters with fewersearch results as the size of the mobile device may make navigatinglarge clusters more difficult.

In some aspects, a media guidance application may receive a sequence ofalphanumeric characters. For example, the media guidance application mayreceive a plurality of user inputs, each of which corresponds to aparticular letter in a word. The media guidance application may thendetermine an electronic device for presenting the received sequence ofalphanumeric characters. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine whether the electronic device is a smartphone, television,tablet, etc.

As each alphanumeric character of the sequence is received, the mediaguidance application may generate for display a cluster in aninteractive dial based on the received sequence of alphanumericcharacters, wherein the first interactive dial comprises a media item.For example, the media guidance application may generate a scrollablecluster featuring one or more media listings corresponding to thealphanumeric characters (e.g., letters) in a search term (e.g., a nameof an actor). Furthermore, the media guidance application may determinea size of the cluster based on the electronic device. For example, thesize of the cluster may differ depending on whether the cluster ispresented on a smartphone or a television.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate fordisplay one or more graphics corresponding to media items in thecluster. For example, if a media item corresponds to the name of aparticular actor, the media guidance application may present an image ofthe actor. Likewise, the media guidance application may present otherinformation that may help identify content associated with the mediaitem.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may combine eachalphanumeric character of the sequence with previously receivedalphanumeric characters of the sequence and cross-reference thecombination with a database to identify a media item group correspondingto the combination. For example, as more alphanumeric characters arereceived, the media guidance application may continually update thecluster, replace the cluster with a new cluster, and/or simultaneouslydisplay another cluster. The media guidance application may thendetermine a plurality of clusters between media items in the media itemgroup. For example, the media guidance application may categorize allthe media items into clusters that may be individually scrolled throughby the user.

The media guidance application may then rank each cluster of theplurality of clusters based on a number of the media items in the mediaitem group corresponding to that cluster. For example, a first cluster(e.g., corresponding to media items featuring the search term in thetitle) that may include five media items may be ranked lower than asecond cluster (e.g., corresponding to media items featuring the searchterm in the cast and/or crew) that includes ten media items. Based onthe ranking, the media guidance application may generate for display thefirst cluster of the plurality of clusters in the first interactive dialand a second cluster of the plurality of clusters in a secondinteractive dial on a display screen. For example, the media guidanceapplication may generate for display the higher-ranked cluster in aninteractive dial that is more prominently located, sized, and/orgraphically accentuated.

It should be noted that the systems and/or methods described above maybe applied to, or used in accordance with, other systems, methods and/orapparatuses.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example of a display screen generated by amedia guidance application in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 2 shows another illustrative example of a display screen generatedby a media guidance application in accordance with some embodiments ofthe disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment device inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative example of a plurality of devices featuringclusters of media items in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 6 is an illustrative example of a user device updating a clusterbased on user selections in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 7 shows illustrative embodiments of user devices used to selectmedia items in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 8 shows an illustrative system form determining a gaze point of auser in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 9 shows a representation of a user and regions of the brain of theuser associated with monitoring brain activity in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for determining a size ofthe cluster based on an electronic device in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for updating a clusterbased on a received alphanumeric character in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure; and

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for generating for displayclusters based on a ranking in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure.

DETAILED DISCLOSURE OF THE DRAWINGS

Methods and systems are disclosed herein for a media guidanceapplication that intuitively and efficiently allows a user to navigate alarge amount of media content on a variety of user devices.Specifically, the media guidance application may provide a user with thesearch results in specialized clusters. For example, in response to asearch terms (e.g., “Action”), the media guidance application maygenerate a plurality of clusters, each of which corresponds to acategory associated with the search term (e.g., movies in the “Action”genre, movies featuring the word “Action” in the title, etc.).Furthermore, the clusters may be specialized based on the device of auser, the number of media items in a cluster, the popularity of acluster, etc.

For example, a size selected for each cluster may depend on theparticular user device used to access the search results. For example,in order to ensure easy navigation, the media guidance application maymodify the number of media items in a cluster based on the number ofmedia items that may easily be scrolled through on a particular device.In another example, the media guidance application may present one ormore clusters based on a rank associated with that cluster. In suchcases, the media guidance application may rank clusters based on thenumber of media items in a cluster. In yet another example, the mediaguidance application may present one or more clusters based on thepopularity of a cluster. In such cases, the media guidance applicationmay rank clusters based on the frequency at which a media item in thatcluster is selected.

As referred to herein, a “media guidance application” or a “guidanceapplication” is an application that allows a user to navigate to andaccess media content through an interface. One typical type of mediaguidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof content or media assets. Media guidance applications may generategraphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigate among,locate and select content.

The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performingany of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on media.Computer readable media includes any media capable of storing data. Thecomputer readable media may be transitory, including, but not limitedto, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals, or may benon-transitory, including, but not limited to, volatile and nonvolatilecomputer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk, floppy disk, USBdrive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processor caches, RandomAccess Memory (“RAM”), etc.

As referred to herein, a “cluster” is a group of media items in whicheach media item of the group shares a common trait. For example, acluster may include a group of media items that belong to the samegenre, feature a particular actor, etc. It should be noted, in someembodiments, a single media item may belong to multiple clusters.

Each cluster may relate to one or more criteria. For example, thecriteria of a cluster may indicate how media items selected for thatcluster should relate to the alphanumeric input. For example, criteriafor a cluster may indicate that media items in the cluster shouldcorrespond to actors with names corresponding to the receivedalphanumeric input. In another example, criteria for a cluster mayindicate that media items in the cluster should correspond to a genrethat corresponds to the received alphanumeric input.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thecriteria for a cluster based on a user input. For example, the mediaguidance application may receive a user input that indicates that afirst cluster should have a first criterion and a second cluster shouldhave a second criterion. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine the criteria for a cluster without receiving auser input. For example, the media guidance application may select thecriteria for a cluster based on popularity, information in a userprofile, or industry standards (e.g., based on prior click-stream data,prior user surveys, prior user search history, etc.).

As referred to herein, a “media item” is a media asset or media content,including, but not limited to media content that refers to, or isassociated with, other media content (e.g., a media listing). Forexample, a media item may be a media listing that corresponds to a mediaasset, a link to additional information, a selectable icon that causesthe media guidance application to perform a function, etc.

As referred to herein, the terms “media asset” and “content” should beunderstood to mean an electronically consumable user asset, such astelevision programming, as well as pay-per-view programs, on-demandprograms (as in video-on-demand (VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g.,streaming content, downloadable content, Webcasts, etc.), video clips,audio, content information, pictures, rotating images, documents,playlists, websites, articles, books, electronic books, blogs,advertisements, chat sessions, social media, applications, games, and/orany other media or multimedia and/or combination of the same. Guidanceapplications also allow users to navigate among and locate content. Asreferred to herein, the term “multimedia” should be understood to meancontent that utilizes at least two different content forms describedabove, for example, text, audio, images, video, or interactivity contentforms. Content may be recorded, played, displayed or accessed by userequipment devices, but can also be part of a live performance.

As referred to herein, the phrase “user equipment device,” “userequipment,” “user device,” “electronic device,” “electronic equipment,”“media equipment device,” or “media device” should be understood to meanany device for accessing the content described above, such as atelevision, a Smart TV, a set-top box, an integrated receiver decoder(IRD) for handling satellite television, a digital storage device, adigital media receiver (DMR), a digital media adapter (DMA), a streamingmedia device, a DVD player, a DVD recorder, a connected DVD, a localmedia server, a BLU-RAY player, a BLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer(PC), a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a WebTV box, a personalcomputer television (PC/TV), a PC media server, a PC media center, ahand-held computer, a stationary telephone, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a mobile telephone, a portable video player, a portable musicplayer, a portable gaming machine, a smart phone, or any othertelevision equipment, computing equipment, or wireless device, and/orcombination of the same. In some embodiments, the user equipment devicemay have a front facing screen and a rear facing screen, multiple frontscreens, or multiple angled screens. In some embodiments, the userequipment device may have a front facing camera and/or a rear facingcamera. On these user equipment devices, users may be able to navigateamong and locate the same content available through a television.Consequently, media guidance may be available on these devices, as well.The guidance provided may be for content available only through atelevision, for content available only through one or more of othertypes of user equipment devices, or for content available both through atelevision and one or more of the other types of user equipment devices.The media guidance applications may be provided as on-line applications(i.e., provided on a web-site), or as stand-alone applications orclients on user equipment devices. Various devices and platforms thatmay implement media guidance applications are described in more detailbelow.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the phrase “mediaguidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any datarelated to content or data used in operating the guidance application.For example, the guidance data may include program information, guidanceapplication settings, user preferences, user profile information, medialistings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcastchannels, titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parentalcontrol ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information,actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos,etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, 3D,etc.), advertisement information (e.g., text, images, media clips,etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type ofguidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locatedesired content selections.

FIGS. 1-2 show illustrative display screens that may be used to providemedia guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 1-2 may beimplemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. While thedisplays of FIGS. 1-2 are illustrated as full screen displays, they mayalso be fully or partially overlaid over content being displayed. A usermay indicate a desire to access content information by selecting aselectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, alistings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicatedbutton (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user inputinterface or device. In response to the user's indication, the mediaguidance application may provide a display screen with media guidancedata organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in agrid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 1 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 100arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different typesof content in a single display. Display 100 may include grid 102 with:(1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 104, where eachchannel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the column)identifies a different channel or content type available; and (2) a rowof time identifiers 106, where each time identifier (which is a cell inthe row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 102 also includescells of program listings, such as program listing 108, where eachlisting provides the title of the program provided on the listing'sassociated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can selectprogram listings by moving highlight region 110. Information relating tothe program listing selected by highlight region 110 may be provided inprogram information region 112. Region 112 may include, for example, theprogram title, the program description, the time the program is provided(if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable), theprogram's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., contentthat is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipmentdevices at a predetermined time and is provided according to aschedule), the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipmentdevice at any time and is not provided according to a schedule).Non-linear programming may include content from different contentsources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content(e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above orother storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demandcontent may include movies or any other content provided by a particularcontent provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “CurbYour Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content throughan Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).

Grid 102 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listing 114, recorded content listing 116, andInternet content listing 118. A display combining media guidance datafor content from different types of content sources is sometimesreferred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of thetypes of media guidance data that may be displayed that are differentthan display 100 may be based on user selection or guidance applicationdefinition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings,only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings114, 116, and 118 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayedin grid 102 to indicate that selection of these listings may provideaccess to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings,or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings forthese content types may be included directly in grid 102. Additionalmedia guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selectingone of the navigational icons 120. (Pressing an arrow key on a userinput device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 120.)

Display 100 may also include video region 122, advertisement 124, andoptions region 126. Video region 122 may allow the user to view and/orpreview programs that are currently available, will be available, orwere available to the user. The content of video region 122 maycorrespond to, or be independent from, one of the listings displayed ingrid 102. Grid displays including a video region are sometimes referredto as picture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and theirfunctionalities are described in greater detail in Satterfield et al.U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat.No. 6,239,794, issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated byreference herein in their entireties. PIG displays may be included inother media guidance application display screens of the embodimentsdescribed herein.

Advertisement 124 may provide an advertisement for content that,depending on a viewer's access rights (e.g., for subscriptionprogramming), is currently available for viewing, will be available forviewing in the future, or may never become available for viewing, andmay correspond to or be unrelated to one or more of the content listingsin grid 102. Advertisement 124 may also be for products or servicesrelated or unrelated to the content displayed in grid 102. Advertisement124 may be selectable and provide further information about content,provide information about a product or a service, enable purchasing ofcontent, a product, or a service, provide content relating to theadvertisement, etc. Advertisement 124 may be targeted based on a user'sprofile/preferences, monitored user activity, the type of displayprovided, or on other suitable targeted advertisement bases.

While advertisement 124 is shown as rectangular or banner shaped,advertisements may be provided in any suitable size, shape, and locationin a guidance application display. For example, advertisement 124 may beprovided as a rectangular shape that is horizontally adjacent to grid102. This is sometimes referred to as a panel advertisement. Inaddition, advertisements may be overlaid over content or a guidanceapplication display or embedded within a display. Advertisements mayalso include text, images, rotating images, video clips, or other typesof content described above. Advertisements may be stored in a userequipment device having a guidance application, in a database connectedto the user equipment, in a remote location (including streaming mediaservers), or on other storage means, or a combination of theselocations. Providing advertisements in a media guidance application isdiscussed in greater detail in, for example, Knudson et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2003/0110499, filed Jan. 17, 2003; Ward, IIIet al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,997, issued Jun. 29, 2004; and Schein et al.U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,714, issued May 14, 2002, which are herebyincorporated by reference herein in their entireties. It will beappreciated that advertisements may be included in other media guidanceapplication display screens of the embodiments described herein.

Options region 126 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 126 may be part of display 100 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 126 may concern features related to program listings in grid 102or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other air times orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include search options, VOD options, parental controloptions, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronizationoptions, second screen device options, options to access various typesof media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premiumservice, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internetcontent (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail,electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desiredcustomizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.allrovi.com, from other media guidanceapplications the user accesses, from other interactive applications theuser accesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.),and/or obtain information about the user from other sources that themedia guidance application may access. As a result, a user can beprovided with a unified guidance application experience across theuser's different user equipment devices. This type of user experience isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 4. Additionalpersonalized media guidance application features are described ingreater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 2. Video mosaic display 200 includes selectable options 202 forcontent information organized based on content type, genre, and/or otherorganization criteria. In display 200, television listings option 204 isselected, thus providing listings 206, 208, 210, and 212 as broadcastprogram listings. In display 200 the listings may provide graphicalimages including cover art, still images from the content, video clippreviews, live video from the content, or other types of content thatindicate to a user the content being described by the media guidancedata in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also beaccompanied by text to provide further information about the contentassociated with the listing. For example, listing 208 may include morethan one portion, including media portion 214 and text portion 216.Media portion 214 and/or text portion 216 may be selectable to viewcontent in full-screen or to view information related to the contentdisplayed in media portion 214 (e.g., to view listings for the channelthat the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 200 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 206 islarger than listings 208, 210, and 212), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider orbased on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphicallyaccentuating content listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Dec. 29, 2005,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access content and the media guidance application (and itsdisplay screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 3 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 300. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 4.User equipment device 300 may receive content and data via input/output(hereinafter “I/O”) path 302. I/O path 302 may provide content (e.g.,broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, contentavailable over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN),and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 304, which includesprocessing circuitry 306 and storage 308. Control circuitry 304 may beused to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable datausing I/O path 302. I/O path 302 may connect control circuitry 304 (andspecifically processing circuitry 306) to one or more communicationspaths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more ofthese communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 3 toavoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry 304 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 306. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 308). Specifically, control circuitry 304 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 304 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 304 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 304 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 4). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 308 thatis part of control circuitry 304. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD)recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders,digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal videorecorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gamingconsoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storagedevices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 308 may be used tostore various types of content described herein as well as mediaguidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used(e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-basedstorage, described in relation to FIG. 4, may be used to supplementstorage 308 or instead of storage 308.

Control circuitry 304 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 304 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 300. Circuitry 304 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 308 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 300, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 308.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 304 using user inputinterface 310. User input interface 310 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognitioninterface, or other user input interfaces. Display 312 may be providedas a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of userequipment device 300. For example, display 312 may be a touchscreen ortouch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, user input interface 312may be integrated with or combined with display 312. Display 312 may beone or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD)for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperature polysilicon display, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, activematrix display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathoderay tube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescentdisplay, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display,thin-film transistor display, organic light-emitting diode display,surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser television,carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric modulatordisplay, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images.In some embodiments, display 312 may be HDTV-capable. In someembodiments, display 312 may be a 3D display, and the interactive mediaguidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. Avideo card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 312.The video card may offer various functions such as accelerated renderingof 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or theability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be anyprocessing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry304. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 304.Speakers 314 may be provided as integrated with other elements of userequipment device 300 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component ofvideos and other content displayed on display 312 may be played throughspeakers 314. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers314.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone applicationwholly-implemented on user equipment device 300. In such an approach,instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage308), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodicbasis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, orusing another suitable approach). Control circuitry 304 may retrieveinstructions of the application from storage 308 and process theinstructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based onthe processed instructions, control circuitry 304 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from input interface 310. Forexample, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated bythe processed instructions when input interface 310 indicates that anup/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-serverbased application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device 300 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests toa server remote to the user equipment device 300. In one example of aclient-server based guidance application, control circuitry 304 runs aweb browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. Forexample, the remote server may store the instructions for theapplication in a storage device. The remote server may process thestored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 304) andgenerate the displays discussed above and below. The client device mayreceive the displays generated by the remote server and may display thecontent of the displays locally on equipment device 300. This way, theprocessing of the instructions is performed remotely by the server whilethe resulting displays are provided locally on equipment device 300.Equipment device 300 may receive inputs from the user via inputinterface 310 and transmit those inputs to the remote server forprocessing and generating the corresponding displays. For example,equipment device 300 may transmit a communication to the remote serverindicating that an up/down button was selected via input interface 310.The remote server may process instructions in accordance with that inputand generate a display of the application corresponding to the input(e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generated display isthen transmitted to equipment device 300 for presentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 304). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 304 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 304. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 304. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 300 of FIG. 3 can be implemented in system 400 ofFIG. 4 as user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404,wireless user communications device 406, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a media guidance application may beimplemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 3 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, or awireless user communications device 406. For example, user televisionequipment 402 may, like some user computer equipment 404, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 404 may, like some television equipment 402, includea tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may have the same layout on various different typesof user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of theuser equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 404, theguidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a webbrowser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled downfor wireless user communications devices 406.

In system 400, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 4 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user televisionequipment 402, user computer equipment 404, wireless user communicationsdevice 406) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example,a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first userequipment device. The content presented on the second screen device maybe any suitable content that supplements the content presented on thefirst device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.allrovi.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 414.Namely, user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, andwireless user communications device 406 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 414 via communications paths 408, 410, and 412, respectively.Communications network 414 may be one or more networks including theInternet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, orother types of communications network or combinations of communicationsnetworks. Paths 408, 410, and 412 may separately or together include oneor more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-opticpath, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g.,IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wirelesssignals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths. Path 412 is drawn with dotted lines toindicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 4 it is awireless path and paths 408 and 410 are drawn as solid lines to indicatethey are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, ifdesired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be providedby one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a singlepath in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 408, 410, and 412, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 414.

System 400 includes content source 416 and media guidance data source418 coupled to communications network 414 via communication paths 420and 422, respectively. Paths 420 and 422 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 408, 410,and 412. Communications with the content source 416 and media guidancedata source 418 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 416 and 418 withuser equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 are shown as throughcommunications network 414, in some embodiments, sources 416 and 418 maycommunicate directly with user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 viacommunication paths (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths 408, 410, and 412.

Content source 416 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 416 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 416 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 416 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 418 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance data may beprovided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. Insome embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-aloneinteractive television program guide that receives program guide datavia a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed). Programschedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the userequipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other mediaguidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog ordigital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 418may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 418 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 418 mayprovide user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data.For example, the viewer data may include current and/or historical useractivity information (e.g., what content the user typically watches,what times of day the user watches content, whether the user interactswith a social network, at what times the user interacts with a socialnetwork to post information, what types of content the user typicallywatches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information,etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data. Forexample, the subscription data may identify to which sources or servicesa given user subscribes and/or to which sources or services the givenuser has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g.,whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user hasadded a premium level of services, whether the user has increasedInternet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and/or thesubscription data may identify patterns of a given user for a period ofmore than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., asurvivor model) used for generating a score that indicates a likelihooda given user will terminate access to a service/source. For example, themedia guidance application may process the viewer data with thesubscription data using the model to generate a value or score thatindicates a likelihood of whether the given user will terminate accessto a particular service or source. In particular, a higher score mayindicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminateaccess to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the mediaguidance application may generate promotions and advertisements thatentice the user to keep the particular service or source indicated bythe score as one to which the user will likely terminate access.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions which may be stored in storage 308, and executedby control circuitry 304 of a user equipment device 300. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. Forexample, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as aclient application on control circuitry 304 of user equipment device 300and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., mediaguidance data source 418) running on control circuitry of the remoteserver. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server (such asmedia guidance data source 418), the media guidance application mayinstruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry ofthe media guidance data source 418 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry ofthe receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices402, 404, and 406 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IPpackets. Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is atrademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu,LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively providemedia guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or mediaguidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidanceapplications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications),or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored onthe user equipment device.

Media guidance system 400 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 4.

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 414.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/179,410, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issuedOct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 416 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 402 and user computer equipment 404may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable content. Users may also access the media guidance applicationoutside of the home using wireless user communications devices 406 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networkingsites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing andstorage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloudcan include a collection of server computing devices, which may belocated centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-basedservices to various types of users and devices connected via a networksuch as the Internet via communications network 414. These cloudresources may include one or more content sources 416 and one or moremedia guidance data sources 418. In addition or in the alternative, theremote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such asuser television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, and wirelessuser communications device 406. For example, the other user equipmentdevices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamedvideo. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in apeer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well asaccess to any content described above, for user equipment devices.Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing serviceproviders, or through other providers of online services. For example,the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, acontent sharing site, a social networking site, or other services viawhich user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others onconnected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipmentdevice to store content to the cloud and to receive content from thecloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-storedcontent.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, forexample, from user computer equipment 404 or wireless usercommunications device 406 having content capture feature. Alternatively,the user can first transfer the content to a user equipment device, suchas user computer equipment 404. The user equipment device storing thecontent uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmissionservice on communications network 414. In some embodiments, the userequipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipmentdevices can access the content directly from the user equipment deviceon which the user stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative example of a plurality of devices featuringclusters of media items in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure. In FIG. 5 user device 500 and user device 516 are shown. Forexample, user device 500 is a set-top box, which is currently generatingfor display a plurality of cluster-based search results on displayscreen 502. For example, in response to a user inputting (e.g., via userinput interface 310 (FIG. 3)) the alphanumeric characters “t,” “o,” and“m” (e.g., corresponding to the word/name “Tom”) into search field 504,the media guidance application has generated for display clusters 506,512, and 514. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 5, clusters 506, 512, and514 are currently displayed in a series of interactive dials.

For example, each of the interactive dials corresponding to clusters506, 512, and 514 may be scrolled through in response to one or moreuser inputs (e.g., received via user input interface 310 (FIG. 3)). Forexample, each cluster (e.g., cluster 506, 512, and 514) may include aplurality of media items (e.g., media item 508). In order for the userto navigate between both different clusters and different media itemswithin a cluster, the media guidance application may receive user inputsfrom the user. In some embodiments, such inputs may be received from auser input interface (e.g., user input interface 310 (FIG. 3) and/or aneye contact detection component (e.g., as discussed in relation to FIG.8) or brain activity monitoring component (e.g., as discussed inrelation to FIG. 9)).

In response to the alphanumeric characters entered in search field 504,the media guidance application has determined a group of media items(e.g., actors, movies, etc., which correspond to the word “Tom”). Forexample, the media guidance application may cross-reference a database(e.g., located at storage 308 (FIG. 3) and/or any location accessiblevia communications network 414 (FIG. 4)) listing all available mediaitems. The media guidance application may filter (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) the available media items based on whether ornot the media items correspond to the word “Tom.” If so, the mediaguidance application determines one or more additional characteristics(e.g., a genre, an actor, etc.) about each of the media itemscorresponding to the word “Tom.” The media guidance application may thenselect one or more clusters (e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3))for each of the media items corresponding to the word “Tom.” Forexample, cluster 506 may correspond to actors named “Tom.” Cluster 512may correspond to movies featuring actors named “Tom.” Cluster 514 maycorrespond to people associated with people named “Tom.”

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may intelligentlyselect the clusters presented to a user, and attributes of thoseclusters, in order to assist the user in navigating the availablecontent. For example, clusters 506, 512, and 514 may represent the mostpopular clusters (e.g., based on click-stream data, user surveys, prioruser search history, etc.). Additionally or alternatively, clusters 506,512, and 514 may represents the clusters featuring the largest number ofmedia items. For example, within the group of media items correspondingto the word “Tom,” the largest number of media items within that groupmay be in a cluster of media items corresponding to actors named “Tom.”

In cluster 506, media item 508 is currently selected. In response to theselection of media item 508, the media guidance application may havegenerated from simultaneous display cluster 512 and/or 514. Additionallyor alternatively, the media items presented in clusters 512 and 514 mayhave changed in response to a selection of media item 508.

The media guidance application also generates for display image 510. Forexample, image 510 may correspond to media item 508. In response to auser selection of media item 508, the media guidance application maygenerate for display image 510. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may generate for display multiple images and/or othercontent associated with a media item. Furthermore, the media guidanceapplication may organize this content near the media item in the clustersuch that a user may identify the media item associated with thecontent. For example, the media guidance application may generate fordisplay an image next to each media item in cluster 506.

In some embodiments, a size selected for each cluster may depend on theparticular user device used to access the search results. For example,the media guidance application may determine that search resultspresented on a small mobile device should feature clusters with fewersearch results as the size of the mobile device may make navigatinglarge clusters more difficult. Accordingly, the media guidanceapplication may select clusters that feature fewer media items asopposed to clusters that feature more media items. For example, theclusters may be more narrowly tailored and correspond to characteristicsassociated with fewer media items. Alternatively, in order to reduce thesize of a cluster, the media guidance application may remove one or moremedia items from the cluster. For example, if ten actors correspond tothe word “Tom,” the media guidance application may remove five of thoseactors in order to reduce the size of the cluster.

For example, cluster 506 may correspond to actors corresponding to theword “Tom.” Likewise, cluster 520 on user device 516 may correspond toactors corresponding to the word “Tom.” However, because user device 500is associated with a larger display screen (e.g., display screen 502) orassociated with a different user input interface than user device 516,cluster 520 may include fewer media items than cluster 508.

In some embodiments, cluster 520 may represent an abbreviated version ofcluster 506. For example, user device 500 may present more clusters(e.g., three) as opposed to user device 516 (e.g., two) despitereceiving the same alphanumeric characters and subsequent user inputs.For example, the media guidance application may generate for displayclusters 512 and 514 in response to a user selection of media item 508on user device 500, but the media guidance application may only generatefor display cluster 518 on user device 516 in response to the sameinputs.

In some embodiments, user device 500 and user device 516 may be used inconcert. For example, the media guidance application may be configuredto receive commands from both user device 500 and 516. Furthermore,commands received at user device 500 and/or user device 516 may affectcontent presented via user device 500 and/or user device 516. Forexample, a selection of a media item in cluster 520 may affect theclusters simultaneously displayed on display screen 502.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select whichmedia items to remove based on popularity of the media items, the numberof characteristics associated with a particular media item that did ordid not meet the cluster criteria, etc. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may provide the user an option to access theremoved media items. For example, after scrolling the interactive dial,the user may be presented with an option to access the media items thatwere removed or for the cluster to be populated with the removed mediaitems.

FIG. 6 is an illustrative example of a user device updating a clusterbased on user selections in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure. For example, user device 600, 630, 660, and 690 mayrepresent the same user device as the clusters and media items withineach cluster are modified and updated in response to a series of userinputs.

User device 600 includes two clusters (e.g., cluster 604 and cluster606) that have been generated for display by a media guidanceapplication in response to receiving a sequence of alphanumericcharacters (e.g., “c,” “r,” “u,” “i,” “s,” and “e”) in search field 602.For example, the media guidance application may access a database (e.g.,located at storage 308 (FIG. 3) and/or any location accessible viacommunications network 414 (FIG. 4)) listing available media items. Inresponse to the user inputs, the media guidance application may filter(e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) the available media itemsbased on whether or not an available media item corresponds to the userinputs. For example, in response to receiving a sequence of alphanumericcharacters that spell “Cruise,” the media guidance application maygenerate for display cluster 604, which corresponds to actors andactresses named “Cruise.” In addition, the media guidance applicationhas generated for display cluster 606, which corresponds to movies inwhich “Tom Cruise” appears.

For example, the criteria for cluster 604 may be media items (e.g.,listings) corresponding to actors or actresses named “Cruise.” Thecriteria for cluster 606 may be media items (e.g., listings)corresponding to movies that feature “Tom Cruise.” In some embodiments,the criteria for cluster 604 and cluster 606 (e.g., how each clustershould related to the alphanumeric input) may be selected by the mediaguidance application. For example, the media guidance application mayselect the most popular clusters (e.g., based on click-stream data, usersurveys, prior user search history, etc.).

In some embodiments, the criteria for cluster 606 may depend on themedia item selected in cluster 604. For example, in cluster 604 a mediaitem corresponding to “Tom Cruise” is currently selected. In response,the media guidance application may present movies featuring “Tom Cruise”in cluster 606. Moreover, a user interaction (e.g., scrolling the mediaitems) within cluster 604 may cause the media guidance application toupdate and/or modify the media items in cluster 606. For example, a userselection of “Penelope Cruise” in cluster 604 may cause the mediaguidance application to generate for display movies featuring “PenelopeCruise” in cluster 606.

User device 630 shows clusters 634 and 636, which may correspond toclusters generated for display after a user enters an additionalalphanumeric character into search field 632 (e.g., as compared to thealphanumeric characters entered into search field 602). For example, inresponse to receiving an additional “s” alphanumeric character, thealphanumeric characters in search field 632 includes “c,” “r,” “u,” “i,”“s,” “e,” and “s,” which when combined, spell “cruises.” Based on theadditional, alphanumeric character, the media guidance application hasmodified the displayed clusters and/or the media items within thedisplayed clusters.

For example, the criteria for cluster 634 may now include movies aboutcruises, whereas the criteria for cluster 636 may include advertisementsand/or purchasing opportunities related to cruises. For example, thecriteria for cluster 634 and cluster 636 may combine both the context ofthe alphanumeric characters received in search field 632 (e.g.,available media items corresponding to the received alphanumericcharacters) and the most popular and/or largest clusters of media itemsassociated with the alphanumeric characters. For example, while mostusers may prefer a list of movies featuring “Tom Cruise” when “Cruise”is entered into a search field, most users may prefer movies featuringboats when “Cruises” is entered into a search field.

User device 660 includes two clusters (e.g., cluster 664 and cluster666). The media guidance application may have generated for displaycluster 664 and cluster 666 in response to a user selecting “CruiseDeals” from cluster 636. For example, in response to a user selecting“cruise deals” from cluster 636, the alphanumeric characters in searchfield 662 may have been updated. Additionally or alternatively, clusters664 and 666, and media items presented in clusters 664 and 666, havebeen updated.

For example, the criterion associated with cluster 664 is now locationof cruises, whereas the criterion for cluster 666 is now cruise deals inthe location selected in cluster 664. Moreover, a user interaction(e.g., scrolling the media items) within cluster 664 may cause the mediaguidance application to update and/or modify the media items in cluster666. For example, a user selection of “Bahamas” in cluster 664, maycause the media guidance application to generate for display cruiseslocated in the Bahamas in cluster 666.

Finally, user device 690 represents the clusters generated for displayby the media guidance application upon a user selection of “6 Day Aruba”in cluster 666. For example, in response to the user selection, thecontent of cluster 666 has been moved to a more prominent location, thecontent of cluster 664 has been removed, and cluster 696 has beengenerated for display. The criteria of cluster 696 may relate to pricesand providers of six-day cruises in Aruba, as indicated by “6 Day Aruba”being highlighted in cluster 694.

FIG. 7 shows illustrative embodiments of user devices used to selectmedia items in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Forexample, the user devices (e.g., user devices 700, 730, and 760) may beused to determine a gaze point (e.g., as discussed in relation to FIG.8) or current brain activity as discussed in relation to FIG. 6, whichshows multiple user devices that may be associated with monitoring brainactivity. For example, the user devices (e.g., user devices 700, 730,and 760) may work in concert with another user device (e.g., user device500 (FIG. 5)) in order to generate for display one or more clusters.

A user device (e.g., upon which a media guidance application isimplemented and/or which a media guidance application is incommunication with) may be fashioned as a form of headwear. For example,user device 700 is fashioned as a headset, user device 730 is fashionedas a hat/helmet, and user device 760 is fashioned as eyeglasses. Itshould be noted that a user device configured to determined a gaze pointof a user, monitor brain activity of a user, or otherwise select,navigate, or provide information for a cluster as described herein maybe fashioned as any headwear. Furthermore, in some embodiments, a userdevice may not be fashioned as headwear, but instead may be configuredas any device capable of determining a gaze point of a user, monitoringbrain activity of a user, or otherwise selecting, navigating orproviding information for a cluster.

In some embodiments, user devices 700, 730, and 760 may further includeadditional sub-components (e.g., in communication with control circuitry304 (FIG. 3)), which may monitor eye contact of a user (e.g., asdiscussed in relation to FIG. 8). Sub-components may include lenses,light sources, or other features that may be used to determine whetheror not a user is making eye contact.

In some embodiments, user devices 700, 730, and 760 may further includeadditional sub-components (e.g., in communication with control circuitry304 (FIG. 3)), which may monitor brain activity on one or more regionsof the brain (e.g., as discussed in relation to FIG. 9). Sub-componentsmay include electrodes or other features that may attach to the variousportions (e.g., portions 902, 904, 906, and 908 (FIG. 9)) of a user(e.g., user 900 (FIG. 9)). Furthermore, in some embodiments,sub-components may extend and/or retract during various modes of theuser device in order to accommodate the comfort of the user.

In some embodiments, user devices 700, 730, and 760 may bebattery-powered in order to provide a user with additional mobility.Furthermore, user devices 700, 730, and 760 include multiple modes, eachcorresponding to different power consumption levels and/or sensitivitylevels.

FIG. 8 shows an illustrative system form determining a gaze point of auser in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. FIG. 8 showseye contact detection component 800, which may be used to identify thegaze point of a user (e.g., operating user device 500 (FIG. 5)), inorder to determine whether or not a user is currently looking at aparticular cluster. Eye contact detection component 800 includesprocessor 802, light source 804, and optical sensor 806. Light source804 transmits light that reaches at least one eye of a user, and opticalsensor 806 is directed at the user to sense reflected light. Opticalsensor 806 transmits collected data to processor 802, and based on thedata received from optical sensor 806, processor 802 determines a user'sgaze point.

In some embodiments, eye contact detection component 800 is configuredfor determining a gaze point of a single user. In other embodiments, eyecontact detection component 800 may determine gaze points for aplurality of users. Eye contact detection component 800 may identifymultiple users of a user device (e.g., user device 500 (FIG. 5)).

Processor 802 may be integrated with one or more light sources 804 andone or more optical sensors 806 in a single device. Additionally oralternatively, one or more light sources 804 and one or more opticalsensors 806 may be housed separately from processor 802 and in wirelessor wired communication with processor 802. One or more of processors802, light sources 804, and optical sensors 806 may be integrated intouser equipment device 300 (FIG. 3).

Processor 802 may be similar to processing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3)described above. In some embodiments, processor 802 may be processingcircuitry 306 (FIG. 3), with processing circuitry 306 in communicationwith light source 804 and optical sensor 806. In other embodiments,processor 802 may be separate from but optionally in communication withprocessing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3).

Light source 804 transmits light to one or both eyes of one or moreusers. Light source 804 may emit, for example, infrared (IR) light, nearinfrared light, or visible light. The light emitted by light source 804may be collimated or non-collimated. The light is reflected in a user'seye, forming, for example, the reflection from the outer surface of thecornea (i.e., a first Purkinje image), the reflection from the innersurface of the cornea (i.e., a second Purkinje image), the reflectionfrom the outer (anterior) surface of the lens (i.e., a third Purkinjeimage), and/or the reflection from the inner (posterior) surface of thelens (i.e., a fourth Purkinje image).

Optical sensor 806 collects visual information, such as an image orseries of images, of one or both of one or more users' eyes. Opticalsensor 806 transmits the collected image(s) to processor 802, whichprocesses the received image(s) to identify a glint (i.e., cornealreflection) and/or other reflection in one or both eyes of one or moreusers. Processor 802 may also determine the location of the center ofthe pupil of one or both eyes of one or more users. For each eye,processor 802 may compare the location of the pupil to the location ofthe glint and/or other reflection to estimate the gaze point. Processor802 may also store or obtain information describing the location of oneor more light sources 804 and/or the location of one or more opticalsensors 806 relative to a display (e.g., display 312 (FIG. 3)). Usingthis information, processor 802 may determine a user's gaze point on adisplay (e.g., display 312 (FIG. 3) or a particular cluster, orprocessor 802 may determine whether or not a user's gaze point is on aportion of a display (e.g., display 312 (FIG. 3)).

In some embodiments, eye contact detection component 800 performs bestif the position of a user's head is fixed or relatively stable. In otherembodiments, eye contact detection component 800 is configured toaccount for a user's head movement, which allows the user a more naturalviewing experience than if the user's head were fixed in a particularposition.

In some embodiments accounting for a user's head movement, eye contactdetection component 800 includes two or more optical sensors 806. Forexample, two cameras may be arranged to form a stereo vision system forobtaining a 3D position of the user's eye or eyes; this allows processor802 to compensate for head movement when determining the user's gazepoint. The two or more optical sensors 806 may be part of a single unitor may be separate units. For example, user equipment device 300 (FIG.3) may include two cameras used as optical sensors 806, or eye contactdetection component 800 in communication with user equipment device 300(FIG. 3) may include two optical sensors 806. In other embodiments, eachof user equipment device 300 (FIG. 3) and eye contact detectioncomponent 800 may include an optical sensor, and processor 802 receivesimage data from the optical sensor of user equipment device 300 (FIG. 3)and the optical sensor of eye contact detection component 800. Processor802 may receive data identifying the location of optical sensor 806relative to a display (e.g., display 312 (FIG. 3)) and/or relative toeach other and use this information when determining the gaze point.

In other embodiments accounting for a user's head movement, eye contactdetection component 800 includes two or more light sources forgenerating multiple glints. For example, two light sources 804 maycreate glints at different locations of an eye; having information onthe two glints allows the processor to determine a 3D position of theuser's eye or eyes, allowing processor 802 to compensate for headmovement. Processor 802 may also receive data identifying the locationof light sources 804 relative to a display (e.g., display 312 (FIG. 3))and/or relative to each other and use this information when determiningthe gaze point.

In some embodiments, other types of eye contact detection componentsthat do not utilize a light source may be used. For example, opticalsensor 806 and processor 802 may track other features of a user's eye,such as the retinal blood vessels or other features inside or on thesurface of the user's eye, and follow these features as the eye rotates.Any other equipment or method for determining one or more users' gazepoint(s) not discussed above may be used in addition to or instead ofthe above-described embodiments of eye contact detection component 800.

It should be noted that eye contact detection component 800 is but onetype of component that may be incorporated into or accessible by controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3) or the media application. Other types ofcomponents, which may generate other types of data (e.g., video, audio,textual, etc.) are fully within the bounds of this disclosure.

FIG. 9 shows a representation of a user and regions of the brain of theuser associated with monitoring brain activity. For example, in someembodiments, the media guidance application may be implemented upon (orbe in communication with) a user device that monitors brain activity ofa user (e.g., user device 700 (FIG. 7)). The user device may reside uponthe head of a user and include components (or sub-components) fortesting different areas of the scalp of a user.

It should be noted that although FIG. 9 discusses performing functionsbased on brain activity of a user, the media guidance application mayperform functions based on any biometric measurement. As used herein,“biometric measurement” refers to distinctive, measurablecharacteristics used to label and describe the psychological orphysiological condition of a user.

Biometric measurements that may be received, managed, monitored, and/orshared by a media guidance application may include psychologicalcharacteristics related to the level of concentration, emotional state,mood, and/or pattern of behavior of a person, including but not limitedto typing rhythm, gait, frequency of social interactions, voice tones,etc., or may include physiological characteristics related to the statusand/or shape of the body such as height, weight, medical condition(s),heart rate, blood pressure, fingerprint, body mass index, glucose level,face description, DNA, palm print, hand geometry, iris, retina,odor/scent, and/or any other mechanical, physical, and biochemicalfunctions of a user, his/her organs, and the cells of which they arecomposed.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine apsychological or physiological condition of a user based on one or morebiometric measurements, and use that determination to trigger theperformance of a media guidance application operation. For example, themedia guidance application may determine the current mood of a userbased on the heart rate, drowsiness level, or current brain activity ofthe user. In another example, the media guidance application maydetermine the level of attention of a user based on current brainactivity, eye contact, etc. Systems and methods for determining moods,levels of attention, and other characteristics of a user based on brainactivity and/or other biometric measurements are discussed in greaterdetail in connection with Klappert et al., U.S. patent application Ser.No. 14/038,158, filed Sep. 26, 2013; Klappert et al., U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/038,046, filed Sep. 26, 2013; Klappert et al.,U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/038,171, filed Sep. 26, 2013;Klappert et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/038,257, filed Sep.26, 2013; Klappert et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/037,984,filed Sep. 26, 2013; and Klappert et al., U.S. patent application Ser.No. 14/038,044, filed Sep. 26, 2013, which are hereby incorporated byreference herein in their entireties.

In some embodiments, monitoring for biometric data may includemonitoring the brain activity of a user. For example, a characteristicof brain activity may be mapped such that detection of such acharacteristic triggers a particular media guidance applicationoperation. For example, the media guidance application may monitor theuser to determine whether or not a specific brain state such as the userobtaining a particular mood, a particular level of concentration, abrain activity frequency range above a threshold level, or a particularamplitude with any one frequency band, etc., is occurring. If such abrain state is detected, the media guidance application may instruct auser device to perform a particular media guidance application operationthat was mapped to the detected brain state.

For example, by measuring for particular brain activity and/or in aparticular region of the brain of a user, the media guidance applicationmay determine whether or not a user is selecting, scrolling, orotherwise interacting with one or more clusters. Furthermore, the mediaguidance application may interpret the measured brain activity in orderto identify search terms and/or more prominently display one clusterover another.

For example, the media guidance application may determine that a gazepoint of a user is currently fixated on a particular cluster of aplurality of displayed clusters. Furthermore, the media guidanceapplication may detect brain activity that indicates that a user iscurrently excited. Therefore, the media guidance application maydetermine that the user prefers the cluster upon which the gaze point ofthe user is fixated.

As shown in FIG. 9, the scalp of user 900 includes first portion 902,second portion 904, third portion 906, and fourth portion 908. In someembodiments, each of first portion 902, second portion 904, thirdportion 906, and fourth portion 908 may correspond to a different regionof brain 910. For example, in some embodiments, first portion 902 maycorrespond to frontal lobe 912, second portion 904 may correspond toparietal lobe 914, third portion 906 may correspond to occipital lobe916, and fourth portion 908 may correspond to temporal lobe 918.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may perform a mediaguidance application operation (e.g., select a search term, scroll aninteractive dial, etc.) in response to brain activity detected in aparticular region of the brain of a user. For example, the mediaguidance application may monitor brain activity of the user in portion902 (e.g., via user device 700 (FIG. 7)) and determine brain activityassociated with frontal lobe 912. The media guidance application maythen cross-reference the brain activity detected in portion 902 with adatabase associated with measurements of brain activity to determine ifthe detected brain activity in portion 902 corresponds to a particularmedia guidance application operation. Alternatively or additionally, themedia guidance application may cross-reference the brain activitydetected in portion 902 with a database associated with emotions of auser to determine if the detected brain activity in portion 902corresponds to a particular emotion. For example, if the media guidanceapplication determines that the detected brain activity corresponds toan emotion of “happy,” the media guidance application may determine acluster associated with the emotion (e.g., a cluster currently selectedby a user or upon which a gaze point of the user is fixated). The mediaguidance application may then perform one or more functions based onassociating the cluster with the determined emotion (e.g., graphicallyaccentuate the cluster, relocate the cluster to a more prominentposition, increase the size of the cluster, increase a number of mediaitems in the cluster, etc.).

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for determining a size ofthe cluster based on an electronic device in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. It should be noted that process 1000 orany step thereof could be performed on, or provided by, any of thedevices shown in FIGS. 3-4. For example, process 1000 may be executed bycontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3) as instructed by a media guidanceapplication implemented on user equipment 402, 404, and/or 406 (FIG. 4)in order to determine a size of the cluster based on an electronicdevice. In addition, one or more steps of process 1000 may beincorporated into or combined with one or more steps of any otherprocess or embodiment.

At step 1002, the media guidance application receives a sequence ofalphanumeric characters. For example, the media guidance application mayreceive e.g., via user input interface 310 (FIG. 3)) a plurality of userinputs, each of which corresponds to a particular letter in a word. Forexample, as discussed in relation to FIG. 5, the media guidanceapplication may receive the alphanumeric characters “t,” “o,” and “m”(e.g., corresponding to the word/name “Tom”).

At step 1004, the media guidance application determines an electronicdevice for presenting the received sequence of alphanumeric characters.For example, the media guidance application may determine whether theelectronic device is a smartphone, television, tablet, etc. For example,the media guidance application may determine whether or not the receivedsequence of alphanumeric characters is being presented on user device500 (FIG. 5) or user device 516 (FIG. 5).

At step 1006, as each alphanumeric character of the sequence isreceived, the media guidance application generates for display a clusterin an interactive dial based on the received sequence of alphanumericcharacters, wherein the interactive dial comprises a media item. Forexample, the media guidance application may generate a scrollablecluster featuring one or more media listings corresponding to thealphanumeric characters (e.g., letters) in a search term (e.g., a nameof an actor). Furthermore, the cluster and/or media items in the clustermay change as additional alphanumeric characters of the sequence arereceived.

At step 1008, the media guidance application may determine a size of thecluster based on the electronic device as each alphanumeric character ofthe sequence is received. For example, the size of the cluster maydiffer depending on whether the cluster is presented on smartphone or atelevision. For example, the size (e.g., the number of media items inthe cluster, the dimension of the cluster as presented on a displayscreen, the size of a cluster relative to other clusters on the displayscreen, etc.) of a first cluster (e.g., cluster 506 (FIG. 5)) on a firstuser device (e.g., user device 500 (FIG. 5)) may differ from a secondcluster (e.g., cluster 520 (FIG. 5)) on a second user device (e.g., userdevice 516 (FIG. 5)).

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 10 may be usedwith any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the steps anddescriptions described in relation to FIG. 10 may be done in alternativeorders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. Forexample, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should be noted that anyof the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 3-4 could beused to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 10.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for updating a clusterbased on a received alphanumeric character in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. It should be noted that process 1100 orany step thereof could be performed on, or provided by, any of thedevices shown in FIGS. 3-4. For example, process 1100 may be executed bycontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3) as instructed by a media guidanceapplication implemented on user equipment 402, 404, and/or 406 (FIG. 4)in order to update a cluster based on a received alphanumeric character.In addition, one or more steps of process 1100 may be incorporated intoor combined with one or more steps of any other process or embodiment.

At step 1102, the media guidance application receives an alphanumericcharacter. For example, the media guidance application may receive oneor more user inputs (e.g., via user input interface 310 (FIG. 3))representing a letter, number, and/or symbols that corresponds to mediacontent that the user wishes to receive. For example, the media guidanceapplication may receive one or more user inputs populating a searchfield (e.g., search field 602 (FIG. 6)).

At step 1104, the media guidance application generates for display(e.g., on display 312 (FIG. 3)) a cluster of media items in aninteractive dial. For example, the media guidance application maygenerate for display cluster 606 (FIG. 6). The cluster may includecriteria for media items based on the received alphanumeric characters.For example, if the media guidance application receives a search term of“Horror,” the media guidance application may populate a cluster withmedia content related to the word “Horror” (e.g., media content of theHorror genre). The media guidance application may also allow a user toscroll and/or navigate through the various media items using aninteractive dial or other navigation controls (e.g., arrow keys).

At step 1106, the media guidance application determines (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) whether an additional alphanumericcharacter was received. For example, the media guidance application mayupdate and/or modify the generated cluster and/or media items in thecluster in response to the receipt of an alphanumeric character.Accordingly, the media guidance application may determine whether or notthe alphanumeric character used upon which the cluster criteria is basedis the most up-to-date. If an additional alphanumeric character wasreceived, the media guidance application proceeds to step 1108. If anadditional alphanumeric character was not received, the media guidanceapplication proceeds to step 1110.

At step 1108, the media guidance application updates the cluster ofmedia items in the interactive dial based on additional charactersbefore returning to step 1106. For example, the media guidanceapplication may cross-reference a database (e.g., located at storage 308(FIG. 3) and/or any location accessible via communications network 414(FIG. 4)) listing available media items with the combination of thealphanumeric character and any previously received alphanumericcharacters to determine media items corresponding to the combination.For example, the media guidance application may input (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) the combination into the database, and thedatabase may output media items corresponding to the combination.

At step 1110, the media guidance application determines whether aselection of a media item was received. For example, in addition toreceiving alphanumeric characters, the media guidance application mayreceive (e.g., via user input interface 310 (FIG. 3)) a selection of amedia item. The selection of the media item may modify the criteria ofone or more clusters. If a selection of a media item was received, themedia guidance application returns to step 1104. If a selection of amedia item was not received, the media guidance application proceeds tostep 1112.

At step 1112, the media guidance application updates (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 4)) the cluster of media items in the interactivedial based on selection before returning to step 1106. For example, asdiscussed in relation to FIG. 6, the media guidance application maydetermine criteria for one or more clusters based on both the receipt ofalphanumeric characters and user selections of media items in clustersthat are generated for display. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may generate a cluster representing a category of mediacontent, and each media item in the cluster may represent a sub-categoryof the media content. It should be noted that clusters and media itemsmay or may not have a hierarchical structure and that embodimentsdiscussed herein may have numerous types of structures.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 11 may be usedwith any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the steps anddescriptions described in relation to FIG. 11 may be done in alternativeorders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. Forexample, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should be noted that anyof the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 3-4 could beused to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 11.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for generating for displayclusters based on a ranking in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure. It should be noted that process 1200 or any step thereofcould be performed on, or provided by, any of the devices shown in FIGS.3-4. For example, process 1200 may be executed by control circuitry 304(FIG. 3) as instructed by a media guidance application implemented onuser equipment 402, 404, and/or 406 (FIG. 4) in order to generate fordisplay clusters based on a ranking. In addition, one or more steps ofprocess 1200 may be incorporated into or combined with one or more stepsof any other process or embodiment.

At step 1202, the media guidance application receives a sequence ofalphanumeric characters. For example, the media guidance application mayreceive one or more user inputs (e.g., via user input interface 310(FIG. 3)) representing a letter, number, and/or symbols that correspondto media content that the user wishes to receive. For example, the mediaguidance application may receive one or more user inputs populating asearch field (e.g., search field 602 (FIG. 6)).

At step 1204, as each alphanumeric character of the sequence is received(e.g., via user input interface 310 (FIG. 3)), the media guidanceapplication combines the alphanumeric character with previously receivedalphanumeric characters of the sequence. For example, the media guidanceapplication may update any displayed clusters and/or media items in theclusters as additional alphanumeric characters are received.

At step 1206, the media guidance application cross-references (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) the combination with a database todetermine a media item group corresponding to the combination. Forexample, the media guidance application may cross-reference a database(e.g., located at storage 308 (FIG. 3) and/or any location accessiblevia communications network 414 (FIG. 4)) listing available media itemswith the combination of the alphanumeric character and any previouslyreceived alphanumeric characters to determine media items correspondingto the combination. For example, the media guidance application mayinput (e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) the combination intothe database, and the database may output media items corresponding tothe combination.

At step 1208, the media guidance application determines a firstplurality of clusters between media items in the media item group. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine one or moreclusters into which each media item corresponding to the combinationfalls. For example, the media guidance application may determine thegroup of media items that corresponds to the combination and divide themedia items into overlapping or non-overlapping categories.

At step 1210, the media guidance application ranks (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) each cluster of the first plurality of clustersbased on a number of the media items in the media item groupcorresponding to that cluster. For example, the media guidanceapplication may rank clusters based on the number of media items in acluster. In such cases, the largest cluster of the plurality of clustersmay be the highest ranked. In another example, the media guidanceapplication may rank clusters based on the frequency at which a mediaitem in that cluster is selected. In such cases, a cluster containingmedia items that are most frequently selected may be ranked higher.

At step 1212, the media guidance application generates for display(e.g., on display 312) a first cluster (e.g., cluster 604 (FIG. 6)) ofthe first plurality of clusters in a first interactive dial and a secondcluster (e.g., cluster 606 (FIG. 6)) of the first plurality of clustersin a second interactive dial on a display screen based on the ranking.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may rank eachcluster of the plurality of clusters based on a number of the mediaitems in the media item group corresponding to that cluster. Forexample, a first cluster (e.g., corresponding to media items featuringthe search term in the title) that includes five media items may beranked lower than a second cluster (e.g., corresponding to media itemsfeaturing the search term in the cast and/or crew) that includes tenmedia items. Based on the ranking, the media guidance application maygenerate for display the first cluster of the plurality of clusters inthe first interactive dial and a second cluster of the plurality ofclusters in a second interactive dial on a display screen. For example,the media guidance application may generate for display the higherranked cluster in an interactive dial that is more prominently located,sized, and/or graphically accentuated.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 12 may be usedwith any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the steps anddescriptions described in relation to FIG. 12 may be done in alternativeorders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. Forexample, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should be noted that anyof the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 3-4 could beused to perform one or more of the steps in FIG. 12.

The above-described embodiments of the present disclosure are presentedfor purposes of illustration and not of limitation, and the presentdisclosure is limited only by the claims that follow. Furthermore, itshould be noted that the features and limitations described in any oneembodiment may be applied to any other embodiment herein, and flowchartsor examples relating to one embodiment may be combined with any otherembodiment in a suitable manner, done in different orders, or done inparallel. In addition, the systems and methods described herein may beperformed in real time. It should also be noted, the systems and/ormethods described above may be applied to, or used in accordance with,other systems and/or methods.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of generating cluster-based searchresults, the method comprising: receiving a sequence of alphanumericcharacters; determining an electronic device for presenting the receivedsequence of alphanumeric characters; as each alphanumeric character ofthe sequence is received: generating for display a first cluster in afirst interactive dial based on the received sequence of alphanumericcharacters, wherein the first interactive dial comprises a media item;and determining a size of the first cluster based on the electronicdevice; combining each alphanumeric character of the sequence withpreviously received alphanumeric characters of the sequence;cross-referencing the combination with a database to identify a mediaitem group corresponding to the combination; determining a plurality ofclusters between media items in the media item group; ranking eachcluster of the plurality of clusters based on a number of the mediaitems in the media item group corresponding to that cluster; and basedon the ranking, generating for display the first cluster of theplurality of clusters in the first interactive dial and a second clusterof the plurality of clusters in a second interactive dial on a displayscreen.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating fordisplay a graphic associated with the media item.
 3. The method of claim1, wherein the first interactive dial is updated as each alphanumericcharacter of the sequence is received.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising determining a location for the first interactive dial and thesecond interactive dial based on the ranking.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising graphically accentuating the first interactive dialas compared to the second interactive dial in response to determiningthat the first cluster corresponds to a higher number of media itemsthan the second cluster.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprisinggenerating for display a third interactive dial that replaces the firstinteractive dial on the display screen in response to receiving a userselection.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating fordisplay a third interactive dial simultaneously with the firstinteractive dial in response to receiving a user selection.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the alphanumeric character of the sequence isreceived on a different electronic device.
 9. The method of claim 1,wherein each alphanumeric character of the sequence received isdetermined based on brain activity of a user.
 10. A system forgenerating cluster-based search results, the system comprising: controlcircuitry configured to: receive a sequence of alphanumeric characters;determine an electronic device for presenting the received sequence ofalphanumeric characters; as each alphanumeric character of the sequenceis received: generate for display, on a display screen, a first clusterin a first interactive dial based on the received sequence ofalphanumeric characters, wherein the first interactive dial comprises amedia item; and determine a size of the first cluster based on theelectronic device; combine each alphanumeric character of the sequencewith previously received alphanumeric characters of the sequence;cross-reference the combination with a database to identify a media itemgroup corresponding to the combination; determine a plurality ofclusters between media items in the media item group; rank each clusterof the plurality of clusters based on a number of the media items in themedia item group corresponding to that cluster; and based on theranking, generate for display the first cluster of the plurality ofclusters in the first interactive dial and a second cluster of theplurality of clusters in a second interactive dial on a display screen.11. The system of claim 10, wherein the control circuitry is furtherconfigured to generate for display a graphic associated with the mediaitem.
 12. The system of claim 10, wherein the first interactive dial isupdated as each alphanumeric character of the sequence is received. 13.The system of claim 10, wherein the control circuitry is furtherconfigured to determine a location for the first interactive dial andthe second interactive dial based on the ranking.
 14. The system ofclaim 10, wherein the control circuitry is further configured tographically accentuate the first interactive dial as compared to thesecond interactive dial in response to determining that the firstcluster corresponds to a higher number of media items than the secondcluster.
 15. The system of claim 10, wherein the control circuitry isfurther configured to generate for display a third interactive dial thatreplaces the first interactive dial on the display screen in response toreceiving a user selection.
 16. The system of claim 10, wherein thecontrol circuitry is further configured to generate for display a thirdinteractive dial simultaneously with the first interactive dial inresponse to receiving a user selection.
 17. The system of claim 10,wherein the alphanumeric character of the sequence is received on adifferent electronic device.
 18. The system of claim 10, wherein eachalphanumeric character of the sequence received is determined based onbrain activity of a user.